Making the right choice for better MI

Good Management Information (MI) is crucial to running an efficient business, keeping track of payments and controlling cashflow. However, the level of information needed differs between businesses, and so Lloyds Bank Cardnet offers three distinct systems to meet MI needs. Here we explore the differences between the systems, and how they can each be used to meet business requirements.

Although Lloyds Bank Cardnet’s MI systems, Business Track, ClientLine and RAM, are tailored to the needs of different businesses, they all share the same overall goal: to enable business owners to monitor payments effectively and proactively. To do this, certain key features are shared:

Information about card transactions is available as soon as it has been processed

Data is accessible 24 hours a day, in a paperless format, from any web browser and through different devices including tablets and smartphones

Hierarchies can be established, so that a head office user in a retail chain can see what’s happening in different branches, whilst access for a user based in one of the outlets could be more limited

They are all fully PCI DSS compliant.

Different systems for different business needs

Although sharing many attributes, they have each been designed to provide distinct features which benefit different sizes and types of business.

Business Track: keeping things simple

Business Track is an entry-level MI system. “It gives a business owner a brief overview of the total transactions coming in at the end of each day,” explains Cath Arnold, Product Manager at Lloyds Bank Cardnet.

“That can really help smaller business owners who wear a number of different hats – buyer, accountant, sales manager – and need to know exactly how much money they have taken.”

Key benefits of Business Track

Get key information, clearly and simply

Review gross card sales

Free of charge

ClientLine: adding more detail

ClientLine is more granular than Business Track and lets the business owner track trends in card transactions. “The merchant can also schedule reports, which will be sent by email in the format and at the time of their choice,” explains Cath.

“In addition, ClientLine offers chargeback data information, allowing a business owner to keep a better track of refunds. Within a large company, for example, this can help highlight whether staff in one branch are giving out more refunds than others, prompting discussions as to why this is occurring. It might also help the business track a problem with a supplier, based on the number of goods being returned". Contact Cardnet for details of any applicable fees.

Key benefits of ClientLine

View transactions in detail

Generate customised reports

Get insights into customer behaviour

Flag fraudulent or suspicious card use

RAM: tracking foreign currency

Business Track and ClientLine are both for purely sterling transactions, but RAM is suitable for businesses that trade in foreign currencies. It is mostly used by businesses whose customers are international, such as airlines, hotels and high-end retailers.

“One thing that’s special about RAM is that you can interrogate live data. That can be really useful for a large merchant who wants more insight,” says Nic Sparasci, OmniPay Product Manager at Lloyds Bank Cardnet.

“Like ClientLine, RAM allows the merchant to track trends. For example, a business owner can see changes in the different currencies they are accepting. So a hotel will be able to see changes throughout the year in the amount of Japanese yen they are receiving, and then track the times of year when they are getting more visitors from Japan. That kind of information can help them plan for future business much more effectively”. Contact Cardnet for details of any applicable fees.

Key benefits of RAM

Keep track of multi-currency payments, including Sterling

Get customised reporting

View disputed transactions in real time

The latest enhancements

Lloyds Bank Cardnet regularly updates and enhances its MI systems. Business Track, for example, is a relatively new system, introduced in November 2014.

Whilst ClientLine has been in existence for three or four years, Lloyds Bank Cardnet has recently introduced major enhancements to its services. For instance, a business owner can now customise reports to select the information that they are most interested in. So they could choose to run a report just focusing on transactions carried out with Visa cards, for example.

“These enhancements are made in response to our customers’ needs and ongoing market research, which tracks business requirements” explains Cath. “Our overall goal is to make sure Lloyds Bank Cardnet is giving merchants more of what they need in terms of Management Information.”

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Who looks after your personal information

Your personal information will be held by Cardnet which trades as Cardnet, part of the Lloyds Banking Group.
More information on the Group can be found at www.lloydsbankinggroup.com

How we use your personal information

We will use your personal information:
to provide products and services, manage your relationship with us and comply with any laws or regulations we are subject to (for example the laws that prevent financial crime or the regulatory requirements governing the products we offer).
for other purposes including improving our services, exercising our rights in relation to agreements and contracts and identifying products and services that may be of interest.
To support us with the above we analyse information we know about you and how you use our products and services, including some automated decision making. You can find out more about how we do this, and in what circumstances you can ask us to stop, in our full privacy notice.

Who we share your personal information with

Your personal information will be shared within Lloyds Banking Group and other companies that provide services to you or us, so that we and any other companies in our Group can look after your relationship with us. By sharing this information it enables us to better understand our customers’ needs, run accounts and policies, and provide products and services efficiently. This processing may include activities which take place outside of the European Economic Area. If this is the case we will ensure appropriate safeguards are in place to protect your personal information. You can find out more about how we share your personal information with credit reference agencies below and can access more information about how else we share your information in our full privacy notice.

Where we collect your personal information from

We will collect personal information about you from a number of sources including:
information given to us on application forms, when you talk to us in branch, over the phone or through the device you use and when new services are requested.
from analysis of how you operate our products and services, including the frequency, nature, location, origin and recipients of any payments.
from or through other organisations (for example card associations, credit reference agencies, insurance companies, retailers, comparison websites, social media and fraud prevention agencies).
in certain circumstances we may also use information about health or criminal convictions but we will only do this where allowed by law or if you give us your consent.

You can find out more about where we collect personal information about you from in our full privacy notice.

Do you have to give us your personal information

We may be required by law, or as a consequence of any contractual relationship we have, to collect certain personal information. Failure to provide this information may prevent or delay us fulfilling these obligations or performing services.

What rights you have over your personal information

The law gives you a number of rights in relation to your personal information including:
the right to access the personal information we have about you. This includes information from application forms, statements, correspondence and call recordings.
the right to get us to correct personal information that is wrong or incomplete.
in certain circumstances, the right to ask us to stop using or delete your personal information.
from 25 May 2018 you will have the right to receive any personal information we have collected from you in an easily re-usable format when it’s processed on certain grounds, such as consent or for contractual reasons. You can also ask us to pass this information on to another organisation.
You can find out more about these rights and how you can exercise them in our full privacy notice.

Other individuals you have financial links with

We may also collect personal information about other individuals who you have a financial link with. This may include people who you have joint accounts or policies with such as your partner/spouse, dependents, beneficiaries or people you have commercial links to, for example other directors or officers of your company. We will collect this information to assess any applications, provide the services requested and to carry out credit reference and fraud prevention checks. You can find out more about how we process personal information about individuals with whom you have a financial link in our full privacy notice.

How we use credit reference agencies

In order to process your application we may supply your personal information to credit reference agencies (CRAs) including how you use our products and services and they will give us information about you, such as about your financial history. We do this to assess creditworthiness and product suitability, check your identity, manage your account, trace and recover debts and prevent criminal activity. We may also continue to exchange information about you with CRAs on an ongoing basis, including about your settled accounts and any debts not fully repaid on time, information on funds going into the account, the balance on the account and, if you borrow, details of your repayments or whether you repay in full and on time. CRAs will share your information with other organisations, for example other organisations you ask to provide you with products and services. Your data will also be linked to the data of any joint applicants or other financial associates as explained above.
You can find out more about the identities of the CRAs, and the ways in which they use and share personal information, in our full privacy notice.

How we use fraud prevention agencies

The personal information we have collected from you and anyone you have a financial link with may be shared with fraud prevention agencies who will use it to prevent fraud and money laundering and to verify your identity. If fraud is detected, you could be refused certain services, finance or employment. Further details of how your information will be used by us and these fraud prevention agencies, and your data protection rights, can be found in our full privacy notice.

Our full privacy notice

It is important that you understand how the personal information you give us will be used. Therefore, we strongly advise that you read our full privacy notice, which you can find at https://lloydsbankcardnet.com/privacy/ or you can ask us for a copy.

How you can contact us

If you have any questions or require more information about how we use your personal information please contact us using https://lloydsbankcardnet.com/. You can also call us on 01268 567100. If you feel we have not answered your question Lloyds Banking Group has a Group Data Privacy Officer, who you can contact on 01268 567100 and tell us you want to speak to our Data Privacy Officer.

Version Control

This notice was last updated in April 2018.

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